the zero-one-infinity rule

programming

Allow none of a thing, one of a thing, or any number of a thing; every other limit is arbitrary.

Attributed to Dutch computing pioneer Willem van der Poel, the rule says arbitrary caps (three login attempts, sixteen partitions, 255 characters) encode a guess about the future that the future will disprove. Zero and one are structural choices; everything above one should be bounded only by resources. Half the compatibility warts in legacy systems are violations of it, fossilized.

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